Reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Malaysia, Australia or any other country.
The demand for oils and fats is expected to increase dramatically with the increase in world population and the need for sustainable resources. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera), which produces the palm oil and palm kernel oil, is the highest yielding oil crop in the world and was forecasted to contribute around a quarter of the world's oil and fats demand by the year 2020 (Rajanaidu, and Jalani, World-wide performance of DXP planting materials and future prospects. In Proceedings of 1995 PORIM National Oil Palm Conference.—Technologies in Plantation, The Way Forward. 11-12 Julai, Kuala Lumpur: Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia, pp. 1-29, 1995). Due to the demand, there is a need to increase the quality and yield of palm oil and palm kernel oil and to rapidly develop new characteristics when required.
Oil palm is the most important commercial crop in Malaysia. It has been identified as the most likely candidate for the development of a large scale production and renewal plant (Ravigadevi et al, Genetic engineering in oil palm. In Advances in Oil Palm Research. (eds). Yusof, Jalani, and Chan Malaysia Palm Oil Board. 1:284-331, 2000) for palm oil-derived chemicals. The ultimate aim is to genetically engineer the oil palm so as to modify its oil composition in order to expand its applicability. Moreover, the advancement in the genetic transformation of plants has made it possible to transfer foreign genes into the genome of oil palm (Parveez, Optimization of parameters involved in transformation of oil palm using the biolistic method. PhD. Thesis. Universiti Putra Malaysia, 1998). Introduction of foreign genes via genetic engineering will enhance the productivity and value of oil palm.
Genetic engineering is a specialized method of improving plant quality by introducing foreign genes into the whole plant by genetic transformation. Genetic engineering processes are often unique to particular plants. An efficient tissue culture system is required in order to produce genetically modified plants after successful delivery and integration of genetic material into cells which regenerate into a whole plant. The introduced genetic material needs to be present in all cells of the regenerated plant and its progeny. The expression of the genetic material may be in all cells or in particular cells, tissues or organelles. Tissue-specific and constitutive promoters are, therefore, required.